CHRIST PREPARING TO WASH THE APOSTLE'S FEET
"He riseth from supper, and layeth aside his garments,
and having taken a towel, girded himself."—John xiii. 4.
1. Christ, in his lowly office, shows Himself truly to be a servant, in keeping with His own words, "The Son of Man is not come to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give His life a redemption for many" (Mt. xx. 28). Three things are looked for in a good servant or minister:
(i) That he should be careful to keep before him the numerous details in which his serving may so easily fall short. Now for a servant to sit or to lie down during his service is to make this necessary supervision impossible. Hence it is that servants stand. And therefore the gospel says of Our Lord, "He riseth from supper." Our Lord himself also asks us, "For which is greater, he that sitteth at table or he that serveth?" (Lk. xxii. 27).
(ii) That he should show dexterity in doing at the right time all the things his particular office calls for. Now elaborate dress is a hindrance to this. Therefore Our Lord "layeth aside his garments." And this was foreshadowed in the Old Testament when Abraham chose servants who were well appointed (Gen. xiv. 14).
(iii) That he should be prompt, having ready to hand all the things he needs. St. Luke (x. 40) says of Martha that "she was busy about much serving." This is why Our Lord, "having taken a towel, girded himself." Thus he was ready not only to wash the feet, but also to dry them. So He (who "came from God and goeth to God"—Jn. xiii. 3), as He washes their feet, crushes down for ever our swollen, human self-importance.
2. "After that, he putteth water into a basin, and to wash" (Jn. xiii. 5).
We are given for our consideration this service of Christ; and in three ways his humility is set for our example.
(i) The kind of service this was, for it was the lowest kind of service of all! The Lord of all majesty bending to wash the feet of his slaves.
(ii) The number of services it contained, for, we are told, he put water into a basin, he washed their feet, he dried them and so forth.
(iii) The method of doing the service, for He did not do it through others, nor even with others helping him. He did the service Himself. "The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things" (Ecclus. iii. 20).
(In John xiii.)
+ + +St. Thomas Aquinas. Meditations for Lent. Passages selected from the works of St. Thomas by Fr. Mezard, O.P.; translated here by Fr. Philip Hughes. London: Sheed and Ward, 1937. 130-132.
No. 30—Scenes from the Life of Christ: 14. Washing of Feet.
By Giotto di Bondone.
Fresco, 1304-06; Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua
